


Valse des Cygnes

by Fluffypanda



Category: Marvel Ultimates
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Alternate Universe - Swan Princess (1994) Fusion, Animal Transformation, Dancing, Fairy Tale Curses, M/M, Magic, Mild Language, Temporary Character Death
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-26
Updated: 2018-12-26
Packaged: 2019-09-25 13:22:29
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,579
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17122169
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Fluffypanda/pseuds/Fluffypanda
Summary: The Ultimates are set to be the hottest new superhero team in America, but after the launch party Tony Stark's armor is found wrecked and he's presumed dead. Steve wants to get to the bottom of what really happened while the rest of the team is ready to move on.





	Valse des Cygnes

**Author's Note:**

  * For [mitochondrials](https://archiveofourown.org/users/mitochondrials/gifts).



> Thank you to [sirsapling](https://archiveofourown.org/users/SirSapling/pseuds/SirSapling), [Serinah](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Serinah), [athletiger](https://archiveofourown.org/users/athletiger/pseuds/athletiger), and especially [erawebuilt](http://archiveofourown.org/users/erawebuilt/pseuds/erawebuilt) for all your help! This couldn't have happened without you!

The room glittered with over-the-top jewelry and artificially whitened smiles. Cameras flashed, taking pictures of Steve as he greeted this celebrity or that politician, not that Steve knew which was which. They all wanted to be seen with the hero pulled straight out of what was now being called World War II.

Despite hating every second of it, Steve did his best to stay polite and make a good impression on the public. He was still serving the country he loved—he just needed time to get used to what it had become. Steve continued shaking hands and exchanging small talk until he spotted a handsome (and familiar) face headed his way.

He pulled away from the stiff-faced woman in a low cut dress he was currently being groped by. “Stark.”

Stark smiled at him and opened his arms as if going for a hug. “Captain, I hear you’re the life of this party. That’s usually my job, you know.”

“I’d happily leave you to it. Being the center of attention is exhausting.”

Steve intercepted the hug with a handshake. Stark look disappointed, but accepted it without a word. A note of his pleasantly spicy cologne hung in the air between them.

Stark was something of a mystery. All Steve really knew about his future teammate was that he was some sort of industrialist with a flying suit of armor. Fury seemed to think he could be an asset, but Steve had yet to see if that would pan out.

“True enough, but I’ve got practice.” Stark grabbed two flutes of champagne from a passing server and pressed one into Steve’s hand before taking a sip from his own. “Fury pulled me from an interview with Sixty Minutes to come play with you.”

“I’m sorry to have interrupted,” Steve said politely. He swirled the champagne around in its glass, watching the bubbles fizzle.

“I can’t say I’m too put out, the view is just as nice and we still haven’t properly met. You were too busy flinging yourself out a window and nearly getting squashed.”

Steve winced, fighting back a blush. “Not my best moment.”

It had made sense at the time—being captured by the enemy seemed so much more logical than the tale they seemed to be spinning up. The guns and restrains hadn’t exactly sold their case either.

To avoid having to say something else, Steve took a sip of his champagne and let it wash across his tongue. God, he wished he had a beer.

“Don’t worry, you still intimidate me.” Stark winked, and Steve felt something strange in his chest.

Steve huffed a laugh. “It sure doesn’t look that way to me.”

“I’m good at hiding it,” Stark replied with a sardonic smile. He took another sip of his drink. “I’m told it’s a good skill for a soldier—or a superhero, I suppose.”

A waltz, something light and airy, started up in the background and a few party-goers danced to it. Stark’s eyes sparkled at him.

Steve tugged at the neck of his cowl, which suddenly seemed too tight. “I’ll be glad when we finally get to the real work. Not all”--Steve gestured around the room, to the tireless photographers with their cameras and guests eating canapes while pretending not to watch them--“this.”

Stark laughed warmly. “I can’t say I disagree, but lighten up, darling, and have some fun. It is a party after all.”

“This is not my idea of fun,” Steve grumbled, but he was enjoying himself more than expected.

Stark smiled at him again, like he knew something, a shared secret, and Steve’s insides flip-flopped. “Care for a dance?”

“What?” Steve looked around to see if anyone had heard what Stark had said, but no one seemed to be watching with anymore interest than before. “Are you insane?”

Two men dancing, out in front everyone like that? It was one thing to fool around like that—and other ways--in private and there were no dames around, but the president was here for god sakes. What the hell was Stark thinking?

“It doesn’t have to mean anything, darling. I just thought it might be good for a laugh.”

Steve’s heart sank, like that was somehow worse than whatever he thought Tony had been suggesting. It was ridiculous.

“Excuse me,” he said and left.

\------

Tony loosened his tie before letting it slip softly to the ground. Stepping over it, he poured himself bourbon from his workshop’s mini bar and slugged half of it back. He’d need it if he was going to get any work done. The buzz he’d carefully maintained during the launch party was already starting to fade, leaving the world with too sharp edges.

“It’s supposed to be a night of triumph, yet here you are, retreating into a bottle,” a voice said from somewhere behind Tony. “Pathetic. I never did understand what he saw in you.”

Tony froze and, heart pounding, calculated the number of people that could break into his workshop without him noticing. Slowly, he turned, smiling at the intruder. “I’m sorry, have I met you?”

“Not yet.” The man grinned, his long dark hair falling over his face. “Now, I suppose you won’t.”

“You might want to be a little more cryptic. I think I almost understood that.” Tony moved as he spoke, circling over to the center of the room. It seemed like a good time to test the automated suit-up gantry. “Mind telling me why you’re here? If you’re here for a little late-night rendezvous, well, let’s say I’m not entirely opposed.”

“By the Norns, you are insufferable.”

Tony leaped up onto the gantry platform, but the man sprang into action as Tony rushed to put on the suit. As soon as the first gauntlet was on, Tony fired at the man. He was blown back by Tony’s missile and crashed into the table behind him, scattering parts.

Despite that, he got up, seemingly unharmed, and came for Tony again. He reached him just as the suits helmet sealed shut and gel began to fill the interior. The man’s face transformed, becoming monstrous.

Tony blasted off, leaving the workshop behind. The monster was hot on his trail.

\------

Steve’s heart clenched at the sight of the wrecked armor being hoisted from the river. Sediment and river weeds clung to the exterior of the mangled pieces, only recognizable thanks to the red and gold paint that peeked through.

“Are we sure he was in there?” he asked over the roaring in his ears.

Late last night, well after the launch party ended and he’d made an attempt at settling down for the night, Steve had gotten the call. Reports had come in of Iron Man flying erratically through the city and eventually crashing. Now, in the harsh morning light, SHIELD was dredging the Hudson for any sign of the wreckage—or a body.

Fury pinched the bridge of his nose. “Stark isn’t the sharing type. He’s the only one that can operate the suit.”

Steve tried to swallow around the lump in his throat. It shouldn’t have been the blow that it was. Steve had lost so much as it was. He hardly knew the man; it didn’t seem fair to have to mourn him too.

“How am I not surprised Stark had a little too much and took himself out with a DUI in the armor?” Hank muttered, kicking at the ground. “He had to do it just after the launch party too. The press is going to love this.”

Clenching his fists until his nails dug into his hands, Steve gritted his teeth. No matter what, that was too much disrespect for a man who was their teammate.

Before Steve could take a swing though, Jan said, “There goes the team.”

Everyone looked at her.

“What? He was our bankroll.” She shrugged, but a second later she was biting her nail.

“She’s right. Banner hasn’t come through for us, Thor’s made it clear he isn’t open to recruitment, and with Stark out of the picture…” Fury sighed. “Convincing the DOD to fork over the funding we need isn’t going to be easy.”

The Ultimates were over before they even begun. Steve couldn’t help but feel like he lost something more.

\-----

Tony’s eyes fluttered open as he was hauled up from the ground by his shirt collar and dragged through trees and grass. His captor had a firm grip on him, though he was too weak to fight anyway. Mist draped the landscape around them, the shores of a lake leached of color by the still faint light of dawn.

Where was he?

The last Tony could recall, he’d been wrestling the beast off of him before he could pierce the seal on the armor. He was pretty sure he lost that fight.

“This seems like a suitable hiding place.” The man stopped at the edge of the water. He looked down at Tony with contempt on his face. “Without you, my brother will be alone as the rift between him and your little team grows wider.”

Tony struggled to stand under his own power. “Do you really think SHIELD doesn’t have the resources to find me?”

He never let any of their tracking devices near him, but their mad flight through the streets of midtown would hardly go unnoticed. It was only a matter of time before they located him.

“They won’t even look.” He sneered, before pushing Tony into the water.

Tony tumbled down, flailing as he tried to regain his balance, but it was useless, and he went under with a dizzying splash. Water rushed into his nose and mouth, and for a confusing moment, his body felt weightless. He struggled back up to the surface.

“The spell is a little fairytale, so full of dramatic flourishes and rules. I had to make do, thanks to the Allfather’s meddling, but for you? It’ll hold. I doubt you’ll find yourself a Siegfried.”

Tony tried to curse, but all that came out was a hiss. He startled, catching sight of the huge feathery white wings raised on either side of him.

The man looked amused as he stepped back, into the woods. “If you want to be human again, for any time at all, you’ll be here the next time the moon hits this lake.”

Tony blinked, and the man disappeared as if he were never there at all.

\------

Steve stood in front of a bank of computers, half of them ran footage from security cameras across the city, most only showing a flash of red and gold, or a grey-scale blur as often was the case, before cutting to a different camera. On the remaining computers, a forensic analysis of the armor scrolled past.

“You’re still on that?” preceded the thump of a cardboard box being placed on top of a nearby computer monitor.

Steve looked over to Jan. “Don’t you think it’s strange?”

She shrugged, indifferent. “Not really. You might not be caught up, but everyone knows Tony Stark was a lush and an adrenaline junkie. It was only a matter of time before it got him killed.”

The footage of Iron Man’s mad flight through the streets of Manhattan continued to play across multiple screens, but Jan’s gaze remained firmly on Steve.

“He didn’t look like he was out of control, there isn’t any footage from when he went down, but look at the way he maneuvers around that building.” Steve pointed to a screen between him and Jan. “He looks like he’s being chased.”

Jan glanced at the video without really looking at it before turning back to Steve with pity on her face.

She shook her head and sighed. “Look, Steve, the Ultimates might be over, but Fury’s got plans for you. You’re not going to be stuck in a lab like me and Hank.”

Steve bit back a growl. “This isn’t about that. If there is a threat out there, one that took out one of us, then we owe it to Tony to take care of it, before anyone else gets hurt.”

She pursed her lips and said nothing, until a moment later she slid the box over to Steve. “Stark left something for you.”

Steve looked at Jan in surprise. Tony barely knew him, why would he buy Steve a gift?

Curiosity got the better of him, he opened the box and immediately was sent back in time. Nestled inside was an old helmet, painted blue, with a white “A” stamped across the front and a recognizable pattern of scratches and dings. Steve lifted it up to examine it, his heart aching at the familiar weight of it in his hands. The leather straps were cracked, but everything was just as he remembered, down to the  _ S. Rogers _ inscribed under the lip.

He almost wanted to smile; it was like seeing an old friend again. He was shocked to find his eyes growing hot. A tear escaped, but he quickly wiped it away and placed the helmet back in its box. What was he thinking, letting Jan see him like this?

“Where did he get this?” Steve asked when he could speak again.

“Who knows, probably some high-society auction. There’s more where that came from. It turns out Stark drafted a pretty robust will, kept it updated.” She laid her hand of top of Steve’s. “He had an inoperable brain tumor, he knew he was dying.”

It almost seemed like a joke, that someone as vibrant and lively as Tony had been had actually been dying. He never would have imagined, but it did put some things in perspective.

“Maybe the crash wasn’t an accident.” Jan gave Steve a long hard look before sighing. “Just drop it, okay?”

\------

Another piece of bread plunked against Tony’s side and fell into the water beside him. He batted it away disdainfully.

“I’m not eating that,” he said.

Unsurprisingly, the couple didn’t heed a single word of what he said and tossed another piece his way while giggling and petting each other. What a lovely date: poisoning billionaire industrialists disguised as waterfowl with day old bread.

Tony paddled his feet a little faster to escape them, eventually ducking under the dock at the disused boathouse until they passed. He didn’t know how much more of this he could take. He’d already found that if he didn’t concentrate, he found himself chasing ducks off the patch of water he thought of as his own and snapping up algae and pondweed. His mind would go eerily quiet in a way the he never quite managed by drinking, conscious thought subsumed by instinct.

He’d already spent one night out on the lake, waiting for that chance the bastard that did this to him said would come, but the moonlight never hit the water. The sky had clouded over sometime before moonrise and had remained overcast until well into the next morning.

Having explored the length of the lake, and found nothing more than some picnickers, he decided It was time to go further afield. He needed to get in the air.

Previous experiments with flight had not gone particularly well. Tony knew the principles of flight backwards and forwards, but as it turned out, achieving it without jet boots was embarrassingly difficult.

Gearing up with a quick tail waggle, Tony prepared for takeoff. Generating enough speed to achieve lift seemed to be his main issue, so this time he oriented himself with enough lake to act as a runway. He reared back and dashed across the surface of the lake, beating his wings as hard as he could.

The wind gathered beneath him, pushing him up until his feet were just barely skimming the water. His heart soared with him, filled with hope. Then the winds changed and sent him crashing back down into the water.

“Fuck,” Tony swore, slapping the water in frustration.

The possibility of being stuck as a swan forever hung over him: endless days of paddling around the lake and pecking at greenery.  He shuddered, his feathers fluffing along the full length of his body.

No, he wasn’t going out like that.

Tony lined himself up again and got ready for takeoff. This time he stayed in the air. The lake and the park surrounding it shrunk beneath him, until it formed into a recognizable landscape.

“I’m in  _ Queens _ ?”

It rankled a bit, but with newfound hope, he began angling his way towards Brooklyn. He knew just the person to see.

\------

It was early evening by the time Steve returned to his walk up, keys clutched in hand, to find a swan menacing his neighbor, a punk kid dumb enough to try and shoo it away. It hissed angrily and flapped its wings at the broomstick he was poking it with.

“I think you might want to back away before you get hurt,” Steve suggested to the poor, wide-eyed kid. “I’ve seen what a bird that size can do to a man and it isn’t pretty.”

As soon as he spoke the swan’s head immediately swiveled to focus on him. Steve waved the kid off while the bird’s attention was on him. Luckily, he had enough smarts to drop the broom and run. The swan didn’t seem interested in the least, too busy whistling and bugling at Steve.

The swan darted forward, snatching the keys from Steve’s hand and bolting for the door. Out on the street, it took to the air.

“What the hell!?” Steve ran after the swan.

It headed east with Steve right on its tail. Every time he got too close, it flew out of reach. God, he hoped no one saw a bird getting the better of him.

The chase continued well past dark, with the swan eventually leading Steve to a park surrounding a lake. It landed on the water with his keys still dangling in its beak. Steve pushed aside the cattails and reeds to wade in after it.

The swan evaded him, circling around in the water until it hit a patch of moonlight in the shallows. It changed form in a burst of light, resolving into the appearance of Tony Stark.

“Shit.” How could he have been so stupid? It lured him here, and he fell for it.

Without taking his eyes off of the creature in front of him, he looked around for any sign of more Chitauri. For now, it seemed like they were alone.

“Captain, darling. You have no idea what I’ve been through.”

Steve gritted his teeth. Why of all people did it have to choose Tony Stark? He reached down to his pocket for the device that was supposed to connect him to SHIELD, but it was gone, likely lost in the lake somewhere. He was going to be on his own for this one.

“Steve?” It looked worried. Good.

Attempting to catch it off guard, Steve charged at it, bringing his fist up at the last second. The thing that looked like Stark stumbled back clumsily, just barely avoiding the blow. It landed on its ass in the water.

It shouted, “Wait!” but Steve pressed on.

He was shaking now, he couldn’t help it. “You should have done your research--Stark’s dead.”

“Woah, I’m very much alive, thank you.” Steve advanced on it again, and it scrambled out of the way. “Just hear me out!”

It still wasn’t attacking him, or even defending itself. What game was it playing? Steve backed away until he was on the shore again.

“When I last saw you, I asked you to dance. I made it out like a joke, but it really would have been nice to dance with you, darling.”

Steve’s knees wobbled and he fell to the ground. “You’re alive?”

Tony stepped onto the shore, his fine clothes dripping with lake water. They were the same black suit he wore to the party the night he went missing, though he appeared to have lost his bow tie.

“So how about it? Will you dance with me?” he said, holding out his hand. Steve hesitated. “Indulge me.”

Steve took Tony’s hand and wobbled to his feet. “How?” he asked as Tony let him up the bank.

Tony shrugged, turning to put a hand on Steve’s waist. Steve shied away, but soon settled under Tony’s touch and placed his hand on Tony’s shoulder. “Some maniac talking about spells broke into my workshop, seemed to want to keep me away from his brother. You know who I think might be connected to this?”

Tony began to hum a little waltz as he danced. Steve faltered, unused to the reversed position, but quickly fell into step with Tony. He hadn’t been dancing since Gail.

“Who?” Steve asked.

“Thor.”

Steve laughed. “Really? I’ve read the files, the man is delusional.”

Tony raised an eyebrow as he took them through a turn. “Is he though? I think what’s happened here is proof enough that we need to expand our thinking.” His finger tapped through the beat while he spoke.

“He doesn’t want anything to do with us.” Steve pleaded, “Come back to the Triskelion with me.”

Tony shook his head. “I can’t. As soon as moonlight leaves this lake, I’m back to paddling around in feathers. I need to be here.”

Tony squeezed Steve’s hand. “Find Thor.”

\------

Tony watched Steve leave, wishing he could go with him, but already the sun was rising. It was only a thin ribbon in the east, but soon it’d wash out the moon’s light completely. They had talked for quite a while after they danced, about the present Tony had intended to give Steve and Tony’s tumor among other things.

“Life on the lake treating you well?”

Tony’s back stiffened. He hoped he’d never have to hear that voice again.

“It’s not exactly the penthouse at the Four Seasons. There isn’t even room service.”

“You’ve been busy,” the man sneered. “Went and found the Captain, I see.”

At those words, Tony’s blood ran cold.

“What can I say? It gets lonely out here,” he said with a forced tone of nonchalance.

The man’s hand closed around Tony’s throat, lifting him high. Tony’s legs kicked out uselessly as he clawed at the man’s fingers. He dragged them over to the boathouse further along the lake.

“I’d be finished with you now, if I could.” His grip tightened, choking Tony. “As it is, this plan may still be salvageable.”

Suddenly, his face shifted, and it was as if Tony was staring into a mirror. He tossed Tony through the boathouse’s open door, and Tony landed in a flurry of feathers as, at last, the curse took hold of him again.

“Don’t think escaping from here will be so easy.” The door slammed shut.

\------

“Computer on. Searching for Golmen, Thorlief; security code two-eight-five, one-two-nine alpha.”

The computer ran the search, flashing a series of maps across the screen before it finally showed him a location in Norway. Steve noted the coordinates and then left the Satellite room behind.

In a matter of hours, he stood across a campfire from the man claiming to be the Norse god of thunder. Steve read the files on him and wasn’t sure he’d buy into the man’s delusions for even a second if it weren’t for what happened to Tony. He still had his doubts, but this man was currently his best bet.

“Now they’re sending their very own jackbooted thug to arrest us. Or are you here to recruit me?” People sat all around him, drinking and partying. Someone even had a guitar.

“Neither,” Steve said. “I’m not here on SHIELD’s orders. I need your help—if you are who you say you are.”

“Tell me, what cause calls for the aid of the Son of Odin?”

\------

Steve returned to the shore where he last saw Tony with Thor in tow. The park was quiet this time of night and nobody, including Tony, was in sight. Everything bad that could happen to a swan out in the wild ran through Steve’s head.

“Tony?” Steve called.

Thor crossed his arms. “Are you sure he is here, Captain?”

Off in the distance a thumping sound, like something hitting wood, started up.  Steve was about to go investigate when Tony pushed back the greenery to join them. He smiled and waved a hand at Steve. He looked beautiful in the moonlight, almost otherworldly. 

Steve went to Tony’s side, breathing a sigh of relief. “There you are.”

“That does indeed to appear to be Stark. It seems odd that my brother would be so intent on keeping him away from me and that he would use such methods to do it. His scope of power is normally much greater than some fairytale spells.”

“Do you have any idea how to break it?”

Thor said, “I am not well versed in seider, however, if I know my tales, an act of love should break the spell.”

“What, like a kiss?” Steve asked, his heart pounding.

Thor nodded. “A kiss could do it.”

Steve looked sideways at Tony. He didn’t know if what he felt was strong enough to be called love, he certainly felt something for Tony. He wanted to spend more time with him.

“I’m going to try something,” he whispered to Tony, leaning in close.

He took a deep steadying breath before pressing his lips to Tony’s. Just then there was a crash and the sound of splintering wood.

Steve and Thor ran towards it, Tony waddling following not far behind. A boat had crashed through the door of the boat house, leaving it in pieces. On the ground in front of the boat was a white shape.

“It’s sad that you couldn’t even tell me apart from him.”

Steve whipped around. Where Tony had been was a completely different man.

“Loki!” shouted Thor as he ran at him.

Loki laughed and dodged out of the way. “What my brother failed to tell you was that misplaced love was just as likely to poison the whole spell. Stark is now dying thanks to you.”

Steve left Loki to Thor, instead running to Tony’s side.

Tony lay still on the ground, wings splayed. His feathers were broken and out of place. Falling to his knees, Steve gathered him up. He didn’t stir in the least. Tony was lighter than Steve would have expected for a bird his size.

“I’m sorry,” he sobbed, burying his face in Tony’s feathery breast.

If only he noticed Tony hadn’t been himself. He didn’t want to lose him again. Through his tears Steve caught sight of the moon reflected on the lake. Maybe—

Steve waded out into the water, Tony’s body cradled in his arms. He kept going until he reached that circle of the moon’s silvery light.

He held his breath, waiting for something to happen. He needed this to work.

Nothing happened.

Then light spilled out from Tony’s body, so bright Steve couldn’t look. When it finally faded the body in his arms was much heavier—and human. Steve pressed his forehead against Tony’s, laughter bubbling out of him at the same time as tears. He couldn’t believe it worked.

Tony’s eyes blinked open. “Hey, darling.”

“Hey, Tony,” Steve whispered in a raspy voice.

Steve hesitated, then grabbed Tony’s hand so they wouldn’t be separated. Thor waited on the shore for them, with Loki trapped beneath him. Hand in hand, they headed there together.


End file.
